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The Plough in Ashby is a tiny pub so we do it "acoustically" to have a smaller footprint. It's also rather fun playing songs a bit differently on the "Rocket Music by Stagg" EUB. A few random requests, a few Christmas songs and lots of happy people in the crowd drinking & dancing. In fact it was the busiest we've seen it. One more tomorrow, before Xmas Edit to add this photo - AI has turned us into elves 😂

Last nights gig with BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers band in Cambusnethan Miners Club. Was sold out with 200+ tickets sold. Not an empty seat in the hall. It was crammed full. Mostly women in the audience and a mixed age group too. Looked like a few Xmas party groups in. Dancing from the first song all thru the full show. One pair of dancers dressed for the occasion were literally dancing every song of a 2.5hr show. They were on their feet more than us. 🤩 The atmosphere was literally electric and it makes you feel better and put more into the show. The singer was on top form with his audience participation. Not bad considering he drove there straight from work. We had so many people chapping our dressing room door to have a chat and thank us for a fantastic night. Was quite over-whelming but still nice to hear. Sound was incredible from our Sound Engineer And PA guy who is now our new permanent 6th band member. People that saw us there 2 yrs ago said the sound was much more full this time around and you could hear the difference between backline and full PA use. Feed back was sensational with many requests for contact details with the venue wanting to book for next Xmas too. Another woman that asked if we would play the club she manages as she was so impressed by the band and the show. This was a club i played back in early 80's. Similar sized Club too. She's adamant she'll have us booked for 2026 and was so complimentary. And she made a point of telling me she was teetotal and sober so that sounds promising. Will see what else comes out of it all. Tonight at The Dreadnought so hopefully will see the same reaction from the audience tonight. We're already booked in for next Xmas so no worries there. Think this is 4yrs in a row so far we've played the Sat before Xmas. My usual gear Sandberg MarloweDK - Shure GLXD wireless - Bassist Comp - Handbox WB-100 - BF 212 cab. Dave

As soon as it appeared on the BassBros socials I had to have it. My 2nd birth year Rickenbacker. Fireglo…..but I kinda feel it’s not actually fireglo but maybe Autumnglo?! It’s a lot darker and brownish to what I’d expect a fireglo to be (pictures show it lighter than it actually is) Either way I love it.

That was super helpful, I hadn't seen it so thank you. I'm actually liking the AG more than the TH after watching that video. As for the AGS on the TH, I have no idea but I think everything was flat and it sounded very bright.

A wise man once didn't bother to say "An expensive bass is one that is bought, but never played."

IMO an expensive bass is one I can't afford. My main basses for the last 20 years have been used and in the £1200 - £1600 range. I got a lot of bass for that money. If I found an exceptional bass for more I'd seriously consider it. I've tried buying cheaper basses but so far they haven't matched up with my #1's and were sold pretty quickly.

I interpreted the question as what would be too expensive for me to buy. I think I would struggle to justify anything north of £3k because I would simply be too afraid to take it out of the house, and also the law of diminishing returns probably means paying large amounts for incremental differences once you get above this point.

Hey, I'm Phil. I've been signed up to basschat for a long time I think, but not really posted much. I've been playing since I was 16, now 44. But don't let that fool you there's been some good gaps along the way where I wasn't in a band. I tend to play and focus when in a band but lack drive when I'm not. Basses: Sire M7 5st Warwick Corvette Std 4 (owned since new in 1997) Washburn EAB 4st. Amp: Warwick Gnome 300w. Might upgrade to the 600w. Really like having smaller lighter stuff these days. I like a clean clear balanced sound, so this suits. Celestion cab(s) made by me. 1x15 and finishing a 2x10 - Neo mags again for lightweight shifting stuff about. Prev amps: (H//H 250 mosfet & Blackwidow 15 cab) Bands: From Alt heavy rock, to Indie, to Rock, to Funk. Currently in an acoustic/funk/folk 3 piece but the style varies a bit: Granson Way. (only have a few recordings so far, still building a set. Currently 2 covers and 12 originals) Hope to get more involved with the chat. Thanks Phil!

There is a snobbery about this kind of thing, when all that really matters is that the end product sounds good. Having listened to numerous DB players, some of whom are revered, some dots (other markers are available) would help immeasurably. I’d rather see lines and dots than listen to pitchy playing.

Not a signature model... but they did do this for him - (it's probably hanging off some lamp post nowadays)

I've been looking through the lists of Hofner players people have shared on here, and there's something that I think is worth saying. I'm not sure if I know how to say it though. TLDR: I think it's entirely possible for lots of popular people to have played a company's instruments over the years without the company itself ever having been popular. To elaborate, like all human-made things, basses are imbued with a certain aesthetic and cultural value by the context in which they're made, the market they're made for and the times they are made in. The Hofners of the 1960s were the work of a company playing catch-up. Hofner were a maker of traditional musical instruments trying to respond to public demand for modern electric basses and guitars. They knew the old world far better than the new one, and so their designs were a curious compromise between traditional instrument aesthetics and the Cadillac gloss of contemporary Fenders. To the aspiring rock stars of the time, therefore, Hofner – and other similarly positioned makers like Framus and Harmony – were always a bit lame and old fashioned. My dad, I think, is pretty typical for the era – he started playing around 1970 on a Framus Star Bass that he couldn't stand. He hated the way it looked, the way it sounded, the crappy bridge he could never get to intonate correctly, the sky-high action and the cramped broomstick of a neck. As soon as he'd saved up enough money, he went out and bought a second-hand Gibson EB-3 (sadly passing over a late 1960s Jazz in the process ...sigh). Thing is, instruments don't spoil like milk. They stick around, and as they age and the cultural context around them changes, they start to acquire different connotations, to be imbued with diffent values by the people who play them. An instrument like a Hofner Club Bass would have been far from cool when it was new, but by the late 1970s, when Tina Weymouth picked one up, it's very uncoolth had made it into something quirky and interesting – an outsider's instrument for an oddball band. I believe the vast majority of Hofner players (Sir Paul excepted) that have been mentioned in this thread didn't start playing those instruments until they were already old and discontinued (or at least the designs were old and unfashionable). Playing a Hofner has often been a kind of contrarian statement, a way to look different and to imply a degree of nonchalance about one's craft – playing an old, cheap instrument as a way to suggest a degree of arty unprofessionalism (putting yourself far distant from Stanley Clarke and his Alembic). If Hofner tried ramping up production in response to one of these high profile players, the cool factor would vanish. Those instruments were only cool so long as they were uncommon and forgotten. The moment someone starts actively marketing them to the cool kids, they would immediately become uncool again. Hofners were popular, but I don't think Hofner themselves ever really were.

Left my choice of best bit of bass gear to something quite late in the day! I've been on the hunt for a one-stop multifx that could take the place of my pedal board for a monthly pub residency I need to get to via public transport. I wanted something that was a step up from my trusty little Zoom B1-4, but wouldn't break the bank and was decently portable. I've spent a few months pondering alternatives - there's a lot of excellent and often really well priced multi-fx's on the market! I came close to getting one a few others, but none seemed to cut it for one reason or another. Slightly out the blue I was recently offered a used Boss GX10 from a fellow BC'er, which is a more budget version of the Boss GT1000 Core which I have on my board and I'm a big fan of. Whilst less powerful in terms of processing power than the Core, it does have a few features that make it great to use that the Core (or indeed the ubiquitous Helix Stomp) lacks e.g. colour touch-screen, built in sturdy expression pedal that can be easily assigned to patch parameters e.g. to boost volume or change the tremolo rate. It's a big step up from my old Zoom B1-4 and seems to tick a sweet spot for me. Although I bought it as "travel" multi-fx with the intention of using my main board for most gigs, the GX10 has really got me thinking whether it could actually become my main board by itself?

Finally put all the bits together (minus the top coat) and plugged it all in. By some miracle, the dammed thing works, not only does it work, but it sounds really good and it's really loud, at least in my dining room The corners are held on with double sided tape as they are supposed to come off later The rest of it is screwed together properly. The Warwick is held on by my "patent pending" mounting system. As can be seen, my "roadie", the CFO, has demonstrated that the Warwick is indeed securely held. I actually tried it in all orientations and it's rock solid. It can also be mounted on the back, but those rails aren't on the cabinet yet. No fears whatsoever it's going to fall off at all. I plugged a Strat in first and it sounds fine, I'm sure a purist might argue it's not a full range speaker (and it's not), but it sounded fine to me. Next up was my headless bass and that sounded fine as well. I did wind the volume up a little bit then and it's bloody loud. No way could I play this at any volume in a small room. I'd certainly gig with both bass and guitar with this. At small volumes it's also fine. The Warwick needs to be setup for guitar or bass with the tone controls. but I have to say the speaker sounds really good. Far better than the Ampeg Rocket 108 to be honest, though it's got significantly more invested into it than the practise amp has. The little rack to the side is a home made one with a Behringher Centaur overdrive, a Mooer compressor and a EHX tuner. The overdrive is not for the bass though. I sill need to get the Armacab on it but not this side of Xmas now Now to build the second one for a little more volume. Rob